Beyond The Stone

Chapter 31

"That is a beautiful sunset," Ava remarked as she watched the sun slowly shrink behind a wavy carpet of pasture, forest and water.

It seemed like there was a never-ending array of colors and textures artfully arranged together to sooth her mind. She realized that it had been quite a long time since she'd been able to simply sit and enjoy a sunset.

'What a peculiar wench, to see beauty at a time like this,' Tristan grumbled.

'Talking to me again are you?' Ava replied with affected sweetness.

'I suppose I must. How else am I to make my wishes known?' he grouched.

She could tell that he was getting over himself, but didn't want to let it show too easily.

'So what are your wishes, sir?' Ava replied with a little yawn and a stretch.

The cage did not allow them to stand, but it couldn't stop a smaller person like her from stretching out at least half of her body at a time.

'To eat, drink and piss,' Tristan told her sourly.

'I'm afraid that'll all have to wait just a little longer,' Ava replied optimistically.

'Well, we could take a piss now,' Tristan suggested.

'And risk showing them our knife?' Ava noted studiously as she glanced back at the guard nearest to them on the rampart.

He wasn't even watching them. No one had spared them a glance for hours. Still, he could have chosen just that moment to glance over at them.

'Since when be thee the one with common sense?' Tristan grumbled, admitting that she was right.

'Since you're too irritable to think straight,' She replied sweetly.

He went quiet a while, and she let him. She glanced around again, double checking the width of the beam holding up the rampart walkway, and the distance between the cage and the wall. There was a mist rolling in over the greenery below. It would be helpful in hiding them from view. Tristan shifted uneasily.

'Perhaps we should risk exposing the knife. It is too large to fit in the lock in order to pry it open,' he noted despairingly.

'Oh Tristan – If I were planning to try and pick the lock, I'd just use a hairpin,' Ava told him optimistically.

The last rays of light finally dipped below the horizon, plunging them into the darkness of night.

'How is it thee can be so cheery?' Tristan asked as he wondered why he hadn't thought of that first.

'Because we finally have a chance to get out of here,' Ava told him as she turned over onto her hands and knees determinedly.

Tristan glanced at the iron bars around them and the massive plummet to the ground below.

'Be thee daft, woman?' he asked incredulously.

'I did gymnastics till I was 16. I've been rock climbing for the past two years, and I've done a ton of stuff between all that. Trust me – I've got this. The only part you need to worry about is what we do when I get us down out of here,' she told him confidently.

'You're going to pry open the lock?' he asked with confusion as she rolled her shoulders and neck out in preparation.

'No need,' she replied with a confident smile as she moved towards one of the larger openings between the cage bars.

A second later she'd wormed her head and shoulders through the opening. Then she gripped the bars with her hands and twisted and rolled her hips until they too followed her slender waist through the narrow exit. Because the cage was small, the last part was tricky – she had to flex over backward with seemingly impossible suppleness in order to slide her thighs and legs out safely.